Lip Man 1

I certainly hope that is the case but the cynic in me can list millions of reasons (as in dollars) why I'd be shocked if he was benched or cut outright. The White Sox don't let go of guys with that much money on the table regardless of how bad they are. We're talking what 14 million? Mark

He must be blackmailing somebody to keep getting re-upped by the Sox. Charlotte fodder, nothing else. Mark

I don't think they will do anything before or during Sox Fest and I'd be surprised if they added anybody of significance by Opening Day. Mark

I received an e-mail a few minutes ago and confirmed it with the local newspaper that Walt Williams, who played for the Sox from 1967-1972 passed away Saturday at a hospital in Brownwood, Texas where he lived. He was 72. Walt was always generous with his time when I'd call him, always funny, laughing and full of life. So sorry to get this news. He was a tough player who always hustled and gave it his best. It's been a bad year for the White Sox family to be sure. Here is the link to my interview with Walt if you want to learn more about him and his career: http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/rwas/in...=11&id=3909 Mark

Retire it right after you retire Minoso's #9, the real "Jackie Robinson" for Latinos. As an aside as orlando Cepeda said when Minnie passed, "I wanted to be Minoso, Clemente wanted to be Minoso..." Tony Perez echoed the same sentiments by the way. That says everything right there. Mark

QUOTE (CB2.0 @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 10:09 PM) With you, here. That has to be the dumbest deal in baseball history. Just wondering...Why? Baseball is flowing in money, it's pouring in, Just today read in USA Today where Manfred said it's getting nine billion a year in revenues. What they are paying Cespedes is basically peanuts today. The mets wouldn't have shelled that out if they didn't think they could afford it. They came close to winning a World Series last year, they want to win it this time around. I guess I don't understand those who worry about "fiscal responsibility" in this era. Regarding the Sox specifically, they've got a TV deal expiring in 2019. Ratings are in the toilet, if they want to get anywhere close to what a number of other teams have signed for they need to start winning on the field. Cespedes would have helped them. He's a better player right now than Garcia probably will ever be. Just my opinion. Mark

Cy: I think your posts are well thought out and logical but I did notice this statement from you, "Now, continually making the wrong choices is a good way for management to lose their job, but sticking to sound process is not." In a 'normal' organization you'd be correct. I submit however the Sox are not 'normal' everyone is well awhere of JR's loyalty factor. I mean six losing seasons in the last nine years is the worst stretch of sustained bad baseball for the franchise sine 1968-1980. Throw in dropping attendance in nine of the past 10 years from the season before and TV ratings dead last and you'd think changes would have been made long before this. But they haven't been. The Sox won't even fire a manager who has the worst winning percentage in franchise history for any manager who lasted four full seasons. What can you do? Loyalty appears to mean more than accountability in the front office and certainly on the field or else Dunn and LaRoche would have been cut a long time ago too to cite two examples of players. Just my opinion. Mark

Good move. Helps the bullpen. Mark

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 12:20 PM) One thing I always missed from WSI after I left and came here was Lip's history articles. Thanks for posting it here, Mark. Thank you for the kind words. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Mark

For what its worth I've seen the comments. Have them now on my computer. Don't know if it is the real Don Cooper or not but the poster who originated the story was pretty true to what was said and how. That being said considering some of the other stuff Cooper has said like on the radio, it wasn't that bad. Once he realized he was 'talking' with a female Sox fan who claimed she and her husband went to a number of Sox games last year, he backed off a little and offered to be 'friends.' Still as I said earlier, it's business 101, you don't rip your fan base at any time regardless if you think you are right or not. I mean it's not like the Sox are drawing three million a year and can afford to insult any fan or group of fans. Just my opinion. Mark

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 07:07 PM) What we have is a message board post, with the evidence apparently "deleted". For what it's worth this was posted on another Sox site: "Well, I can say I saw the conversation. It is on another White Sox fan group on Facebook. Not going to go into a ton of details, but PM me if you want a screen shot. Not a huge fan of the group, I got put in it, never asked to join, and it is mostly either fans who are so negative they make me seem like the Good Humor Man, or guys who really like the MEME app on their phone. I don't know if I buy it's Cooper or not, but the conversation itself happened." Mark

Saw this at another location. I don't know how true or accurate it is but given Cooper's history and some of the things he's said about the fan base on his radio show it very well may have happened. Anyway a poster said this: "In response to negative comments about the Sox, he (Cooper) basically said that if you rip the team and ownership, we don't want you as fans anyway. He said back in the day people stuck by their team no matter what. There was a lot of liberally sprinkled profanity in there. He also called a season ticket holder, or his wife (not sure) a "Jay off" (substitute the y) All of this was done on Facebook Messenger, which he thought would be private." Poster said the comments have now been removed. I'll go back to what I said when Cooper and Williams have ripped the fan base in the past, it's business 101...right or wrong, you don't rip your customers and those who are helping to pay the freight. Mark

Wall Street Journal had a story today on the "15 Pro Franchises Running Out Of Fans..." The Sox came in 5th from the top (which in this case is the worst). Here is what they had to say numbers-wise: 5. Chicago White Sox > Sport: Baseball > 10 year attendance decline: 24.1% > Avg. home game attendance: 21,947 > Avg. capacity filled: 54.0% The only baseball franchises ranked worse than the Sox were the Indians (4) and Phillies (2) So you've got the Sox among the biggest decline in fan attendance over the last decade coupled with both Fan Graphs and ESPN.com stating they were the worst watched franchise in MLB ratings-wise. This is a franchise in major trouble. Mark

You have to admire Mike Ilitch. Money doesn't matter, what he has to do doesn't matter. All that matters is winning the World Series. I give him all the credit in the world. At least he's always in all the way. Mark

Maybe...but realistically there are questions with the back end of the rotation, the bull pen could be weaker if they don't sign Albers, shortstop is unproven, the DH is a massive black hole and for now anyway, you've still got Garcia starting in right field. Oh did I mention Ventura is still the manager? Mark

As much as I'd like to see them sign someone and "go for it" I can understand if they don't. I think in their 'heart of hearts' the Sox realize you are still looking at 2017. Still far to many holes and question marks to realistically think they are going to 'contend' in 2016 in my opinion. Back end of the rotation is 'iffy', bullpen could be weaker if they don't resign Albers, shortstop is a question mark, DH is a black hole and then you have Garcia in right. A lot would have to go right even if they signed another big stick in that division. Like I said, I hope they do but it won't surprise me if / when they don't. Mark

Today at CSN-Chicago the afternoon SportsNet Central show they had a story on the latest regarding Cesdepes. Dan Hayes reported that he is now "probably out of the Sox price range." When asked if the Sox could bring anybody else in he said "not unless the price dropped significantly." He said the Sox could possibly bring in a left handed hitting outfielder who could help more defensively but that's as far as he'd go. He said the Sox would like to see "what Avasil Garcia could do." Take it for whatever that's worth but it doesn't look promising at this point. Mark

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 17, 2016 -> 12:18 PM) I'm surprised all this TV money hasn't dried up. I guess people are willing to pay anything to get the premium stations. I thought advertisers had no money, however, and ad revenue was gonna dry up and even companies like ESPN were doing cost saving things. Will this money for sports be around forever? I guess probably so. It's not just TV money though there are numerous other marketing and advertising streams including stuff on the internet and streaming out of market games that are pouring millions and millions of dollars into MLB. Tom Verducci of S.I. wrote that MLB 's revenue has increased 105% over the past 15 years. Mark

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jan 17, 2016 -> 01:32 PM) The flaw in the telling of the story about this franchise-crippling decision to leave WGN in favor of SportsVision was that it was somehow a "brilliant idea way ahead of its time." Brilliant in what context? Brilliant in terms of maximizing the fan's experience? No, the credit for that brilliant idea goes to the Cubs, who hired Harry Caray away from the Sox to go onto selling the Cubs and Wrigley Field experience for 16 years on WGN. The only brilliance that could have been remotely associated with the SportsVision scheme would have been had it rendered the kinds of profits Messrs. Einhorn and Reinsdorf were hoping for. Meanwhile, what would have been truly brilliant is if Caray had been broadcasting White Sox games on WGN during the 1983 season. If Caray remains with the Sox for the remainder of his career, and if the Sox had stayed on WGN, we wouldn't be having the many discussions about attendance problems like we've had for so many years. The Sox didn't leave WGN for it though. Basically they left WFLD for it. It was "brilliant" in the concept idea as history would show, given the number of regional sports networks now in existence. As I said it was an idea ahead of its time and probably would have worked under different circumstances (which I outlined). I'm not justifying what was done, it was a major mistake on the part of the organization but again, the idea in and of itself was brilliant. As far as Harry, given the animosity between he and the owners (which didn't start out that way I have a 10th inning show from April 1981 where Harry openly praised ownership for spending money and for putting winning ahead of other things) there was no way he was staying with SportsVision or without it. The Sox in fact offered him more money for 1982 than the Cubs did, but the atmosphere was poisoned beyond repair. Mark

Back in 2002 I originally did an article on SportsVision and the history of that network. With the stories in Fan Graphs and ESPN.com this past summer on White Sox viewership as well as the recent hiring of new Sox play by play TV announcer Jason Benetti I thought it was time to take a fresh look at the subject. In addition I was able to track down and have a talk with one of the original SportsVision announcers, Mike Leiderman to get his memories and opinions on the network. I hope you'll enjoy reading the story and will learn a little bit about the history of that network, which was the first of its kind in the country. Here is the link to it: http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2016/01/t...f-sportsvision/ Thanks as well to Dan Shapiro for his help with this. Mark

With the way money is literally pouring in to all MLB teams...ANY team that says they 'can't afford' to do something is total unmitigated BS. Period. End of story. The points about ticket sales not being as important today are correct. TV money drives the train (and given the Sox dismal ratings they damn well need to do something and fast before their deal expires in 2019). Just my opinion. Time for the Sox to show some flexibility and tell Cespedes agent "we'll go four years" maybe even include an out clause after two. With Davis signing now is the time to move. Not when it's to late. If you are "all in" (yet again) fine...BE all in. Mark

Guess Davis and Boras weren't so 'stupid' after all given that he's now got a reported 161 million dollar deal. Hope this helps the Sox but we'll see. Mark

QUOTE (ronkark @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 12:05 AM) What I will miss about Alexei: Rifle arm, turning double play, stolen bases. Occasional clutch home run (more in his early years.) The Eaton fives. What I won't miss about Alexei: Inability to draw a walk, zero plate discipline, baserunning blunder, the slow starts. And the Sox continues insistence in trying him in the 2 hole even though he doesn't take pitches, bunt, hit behind runners or do anything befitting a #2 hitter. His 10 million dollar salary. Better spent elsewhere. Well stated. Mark

Story in the Sun-Times today quoted Hawk as saying that 2016 may be his last year as a broadcaster even though he signed the contract extension. Hawk said he told Jerry that and also added that if the Sox have another year like in 2015, he's probably done. Mark

QUOTE (Saufley @ Jan 13, 2016 -> 10:46 AM) Oh yea, with all the talk about the new TV guy I forgot about how bad the radio side is! Have Farmer and DJ been resigned or is a decision on the radio guys still in the works? There are rumors going around that both will be back on the radio side but I've also heard (and I find this a little hard to believe) that it is only on a one year contract though. Mark